American musician, songwriter and actor Paul Simon has sold his song catalogue to Sony Music Publishing.
The 12-time Grammy winner is the latest in line of a number of iconic musicians to sell his song catalogue. In January this year, Neil Young sold some of his catalogue for around £110m where as Bob Dylan sold his songs to Sony’s competitor Universal Music for a cool £300m just four months prior. Whilst the sum of Paul Simon’s sale of the songs remains undisclosed, it is likely that the retired 79 year old has received a nine figure sum for his works.
But what does this mean in respect of the copyrights over Paul Simon’s music?
As the singer is reported to have sold 100% of the rights to his songs for which he had full copyright ownership over, this means that Sony will now have ownership of these rights. As such, all profits made with regards to Paul Simon’s work will, in its entirety, be paid to Sony Music. Sony will also have full discretion as to how they wish to use the music including but not limited to, using the songs for advertisement deals, commercials, etc.
Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group said, “We are truly honored to now represent the music publishing catalogue of Paul Simon. To be entrusted with his songs and recorded music is a privilege of the highest artistic order for the Sony Music Group worldwide.”
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